(a/n) OmG! I am soooo pissed. I forgot that I didn't update chapter six, so now I have to rewrite it… after half a year passed! At least I still remember how it goes…. Anyway, this first chapter after a period of not writing fics will be kinda weird, 'cuz I'll have to get used to the writing style used here and rethink my writing style that I've been using for my English short story (school thing).

ALSO… the intervals between chappies will probably be more than a week (ill try hard though) because I am currently on a volleyball club. So on Tuesdays and Fridays, I'll be traveling from Manhattan to Brooklyn back to Manhattan back home. And will have no time to write in between. Plus all of the tournaments on weekends.

SOOO… huge workload, but Ill manage, I always manage.

Without further delay….

Disclaimer: I own them all…

…not really….

Death, Emotion, And Everything In Between

Chapter Six

My footsteps echo, soft vibrations on cold floor. She had been removed from my quarters and has not awoken since. Three days passed. And I hear the noiseless echoes once more. One hallway, two hallways, three hallways, four pass and I enter the cool blue chamber. Rin had demanded she be put in a room with a view of the gardens. Not like it mattered- being asleep, she is in a garden of her own.

After the Ladies and Lords departed, and the mess of a ritual cleaned up, I am finally free of the nonsense burdens to meet another burden of equal nonsense. It is my duty as a Lord to check up on my Miko. And I am a Lord who does his duty without question. Unfortunately.

This time, unlike the two previous 'check ups' I know she is awake. I can sense it. I open the door and just as I foretold, She is stilling on the bed holding up a chokugaku. The History of the World.

"Lord Sesshomaru," she says without looking up, "what do you know of the world?"

I hesitate. 'What kind of question is this?' " In the beginning of time there were demons. And these demons ruled the world known as the Oukoku no Asahi. Eventually, the time of the ancient kingdom ended and from these demons came another species. The species was known as humans" I recite, watching her face.

"Is that all? Is this what you truly believe to be the history of the world?" she asks, a half-smile on her face.

"There is no other truth to deny this one its reality."

"That is the proper reply is it not. Of course, this is not the truth. Nor is it true that humans evolved from bacteria, as the scientists of my other time believe." She grins a half-grin. It seemed she could only do things half way, as if she does not remember the whole way, the proper way, of doing something.

"What is this 'your time'?"

"Something I will never explain to you. Or I will explain it to you sometime in the future, which is precisely the explanation."

"Enough of your inane talk. There is something you must explain to me. More than a year has passed since I asked this of you. And more than a year has passed in which I could not answer this question-"

"What happened to Inuyasha?" She looks into my eyes. Her pupils become unfocused. She erupts in an uncontrolled fit of coughing and for a moment my mind recalls the stained kimono Bouen had revealed to me. A servant of mine enters the room with a cup of cool water as though receiving a mental call from me. The Miko gratefully accepts and drinks it as quickly as she could without spilling a drop. After she finishes, the servant removes himself from my sight, bowing, and she once again looks into my eyes.

"Sesshoumaru, I have not the strength today. Leave my room, come back tomorrow. Tomorrow I shall tell you of your brother. Today, I must rest." She pleads with her tired, once human now Immortal, eyes.

"No. I have waited long enough. Today I must have answers, not tomorrow."

"I am afraid you must wait one more day."

"I told you. No."

She sighs, a breath of air with sound. "Sesshoumaru, your brother is neither Dead nor Alive. He is one or the other, but we do not know. Be content with that. Tomorrow, I shall show you. Today, you wait. Now leave." She turns away from me, smothering her coughs so I would not hear them. But I do. I am always listening.

"Fine, Miko. I shall return tomorrow. But do not think this insolence will go unnoticed. You may be powerful, but you are the possession of the Western Lands. And I rule the Western Lands. Therefore, you are mine." I walk briskly and slam the door shut. Outside, Bouen is waiting for me, along with Rin and Shizuka.

"Temper, temper, Sesshoumaru-dono." Bouen whispers under her breath as she enters the Miko's room.

"Sesshoumaru-sama" Rin pipes up, "will Kagome-san come out to play today?"

"No Rin, play with Shizuka. The Miko will have no visitors until I have my answers. Shizuka," I direct my attention to the other girl, "take Rin out to the gardens. Stay there until I say otherwise.

"Yes m'lord" The shy girl replies. "Come Rin."

"But Shizuka-chan…" The girl's complaints continue as I leave the hallway. One hallway… two hallways... six hallways…and so on my feet continue.

Sesshoumaru, One Day Later

My thoughts had been on the troublesome Immortal ever since she had won the verbal battle with this Sesshoumaru. As promised, I return to her chambers. Her room is in something Rin likes to call 'The Color Wing', each room dedicated to one of the seven colors of the world. I call it 'The Guest Chambers'. The Miko's room was chosen primarily because of its garden view, but also because it was the only one fit for a Miko. Each of the Chambers is decorated with a certain design. Red has room for two futons for a couple, Orange is placed to receive a view of the sunset, Yellow, opposite Orange, is placed to receive the first lights. Green alongside its neighbor, Blue, has a view of the palace Gardens, and is decorated with paintings and assortments of flowers, and Purple has a balcony fit for viewing the evening sky. The room opposite Purple, the eighth room, is under a spell to change from white to grey to black, honoring lack of colors, presence of colors and a mix of the two. This room has no name, though it is sometimes called the "Mystery of the Old World", and its fixtures vary among the occupants. ( A/N think of this as a long hallway, red at the end of it, its door facing the hallway, not the other wall, yellow opposite orange, green and blue opposite a storage closet and a shared bath, and purple opposite the 'room without a name')

But it is the Blue one, Green's neighbor, which is the only room with weapons. A bow with a quiver of arrows is displayed on one wall, the other three with swords, shields, and spears. But it is specially designed to have full view of the gardens as well. Its nickname was known to me to be 'The Balanced Room', having both the fruits of death as well as of life.

I slow down as I reach this famous corridor of mine, preparing myself for the long-awaited answers. The questions have haunted my person for far too long and I am anticipating their demise. I step into Her room, and see her once more reading a chokugaku. Upon closer inspection, it was not a scroll she was holding, but a childish misrepresentation of what was supposed to be a handful of flowers. 'Rin.' I think to myself with annoyance. 'That girl will be lectured if I have to see to it myself.'

"She's so adorable. That girl." The Miko speaks up. "I never knew you had one."

"Enough, Miko. Do you have my answers?" I move toward the raised futon. (A/N I prefer to use raised ones in my imagination and stories… I just can't see them sleeping on the ground, and I need them raised so they can sit on the bed without having to sit on the floor. Please overlook this). "What happened to the idiotic relative of mine?"

"I don't know." Her answer crashed down like a sea would on rocks. Very sharp rocks…that can move. My eyes went uncontrolled for but a moment as my rage surfaced.

"Do not think, Miko, though you cannot die from mortal wounds, that they would not hurt."

"Sesshoumaru, I do not need your threats right now. No one knows what happened to your brother. It is a mystery that I have to solve. I shall show you what I mean if you bring the shards of your brother's sword." She replies, thinking her words through.

"Then I shall send for them." As though on cue, a servant appears in the room. "Bring me the shards of Tetsusaiga, in the Southern Armory. The servant nods and leaves the room. I turn my attention to the woman-girl on the bed. "I expect, Miko, that you would also be able to fix this sword. My father's fang is valuable to me, whether or not I am able to wield it."

"Oh, don't worry about it, Sesshoumaru, you will wield it. I will make sure you do." She smiles her half smile once more. How irritable it seems to me now. If the girl wants to smile, she ought to do it the entire way, not as though her lips were strung together to that half-way limit. It looks like a ghost is smiling through her. "It is the only way…." she continues.

My servant enters through the door, carrying a dusty leather bound case. I motion him to leave us immediately, and he does so, bowing the entire way through. I open the long, dusty case and inside, among blue dusty velvet lies my father's broken fang. It seemed only yesterday, to me, that I had challenged my brother's inheritance claim. And now the pieces I hold are all that is left from a time long forgotten and forever remembered in the deep chambers of my mind. Where my brother was, it seems is tied into the very thing I coveted from him.

The girl sits upright in her bed, motioning me to help her get up. I lay the sword on the bed and grab her, as gently as I would allow myself to, pulling her to her feet. She steadies herself, her feet resuming their floating and I once more pick up the broken sword. She takes the hilt out of the box and takes my hand in her free hand. Softly, I hear her begin chanting words.

"Ai. Kai. Jakuten. Kyoujaku. Giman. Torasuto. Shisei. Inbi. Toki no Fairu. AKU!( A/N I know it's a hassle to look all of these up in the vocabulary list, so here they are first: Love. Mystery. Weakness. Strength. Deceit. Trust. Devotion. Obscenity. Files of Time. OPEN!) Suddenly two golden spheres of light surround us and the sword begins to glow a similar shade. The Miko chants the same words over and over again, the spheres circling us to the pace of her chant. "Ai. Kai. Jakuten…" Her mouth starts moving in an unearthly speed such that I am no longer able to make out her words or the golden blurs. All at once the golden spheres disappear, and the Miko stops chanting, two soft syllables escaping her lips, signifying the end of the unknown spell. "Kirai."

The hilt she was once holding had melted in with the shards from the box that for some reason was no longer in my hand. She is holding Tetsusaiga, in its transformed state, struggling with the weight her weak body could not withstand. I release her hold and steady her hand with my own. She pushes the sword into my arm. I grasp it, feeling its burn. The sword heated up to a point where even this Sesshoumaru would have dropped it, but slowly cooled down to a warm touch which then subsided.

She put her finger to her lips and motioned to our surroundings. We are definitely not in her chambers. It looks to me, like we are in some sort of clearing. A familiar feeling enters my mind 'where I found Her'. Sure enough with but a moment's pass, a girl formerly known as Kagome enters the clearing. With her, a small pup. The girl, previously running, had stopped and looked over her shoulder.

"Kagome, don't look back, keep running," yells the pup at her. The girl is wearing a ragged green and white slut-style kimono topped off with a ripped red tie. She is panting with several bruises on her face.

"No, Shippo," she addresses the little kitsune, "I've got to help them."

"Kagome! Inuyasha'll take care of it, now c'mon!" argues the pup, himself out of breath."

From the corner of my vision I detect movement in the skies. The monk and taijiya were flying on a firecat. "Kagome!" the woman calls down, "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. Don't worry about it," the girl yells back.

"Kagome-san, you mustn't linger, Inuyasha is up ahead." the monk speaks up.

Grumbling to herself she turns around and resumes her running. The pup behind her gives an encouraging smile which falls as the girl trips over a rock. She tries to stand up; seeming thoroughly exhausted, and falls back down.

"C'mon Kagome, what's wrong?" the pup returns to her.

"My leg, I twisted it."

"Here, try to crawl." The pup tries to pull her away from the clearing. "Grab the branch!" he motions to the tree in front of them.

"Thanks, Shi-" I could no longer hear what she would have said, the battle between the Kairi-youkai and my half brother was about to bring itself to the clearing.

"TAKE THAT YOU BASTARD!" a familiarly irritating voice echoes among the tree tops. I feel the sword in my hand start to glow. "KAZE NO KIZU!"

The beaver dodges the attack, ramming itself into a nearby tree. It quickly bites the trunk and picks the tree up from its base, using it as one would use a thick stick on a fly. Inuyasha cuts the tree in half, then readies himself for another sword technique. "Try dodging this, you bastard! Kaze no Kizu!" Inuyasha made another attempt at defeating the enormous demon. But, to no avail, the beast being simply pushed back a large distance, using the thick tree to block the worst of the attack.

The enlarged youkai rises and utters an impossibly loud noise consisting of various grunts and moans, then throws the singed tree at Inuyasha, which misses its target completely. Inuyasha then brandishes his sword (in such a manner that I momentarily grimace and swear to myself that I would kill him myself if he ever used any weapon so disgustingly ever again) in an effort to cut the youkai in half.

This mindless endeavor failed my half wit of a brother and the youkai once again erupted in sounds. My brother then dishonorably took advantage of the youkai's ignorant position and took another horribly unskillful swing at it (at which point I had to steady myself in order to not leap toward the insolent little brother and grab the sword out of his hands, after all, if he was going to use it as one would a bundle of sticks, why not give him a bundle of sticks), which once again failed miserably. But this time, my brother did not escape the youkai's attack, the mouth closing on him, front teeth gnawing at the fang.

With a deep yell and a scream, one from my brother, one from the girl in the clearing, the sword broke into the many pieces I had once put into a dusty leather case. My brother's scent immediately changed with the spray of blood the beaver had managed to squeeze out of his side. To think, my father's great fang reduced to pieces at the mouth of some lowly beaver. But the battle was not over. My brother, with a new release of energy, torn open the beast's mouth, its blood coloring the surrounding trees a deep red.

With a sickly smile once the beast was dead, Inuyasha turns toward the clearing where the monk and taijiya had once again appeared, trying to get the girl to sit on the fire cat as though it was merely some horse. He runs swiftly, giving no warning to the trio. The red blur swipes at the fire cat's tails, which will eventually kill it, as a fire cat cannot live without its tails intact.

"Inuyasha! NO!" cries the woman, tears glistening in her eyes, "Kirara!" she grabs the dying beast.

"Oh, no! Sango, Miroku, he's changed! Where's the tetsusaiga?" the girl exclaims, eyes darting and falling onto the bits of the sword, lying at the opposite edge of the clearing. As the red blur dashes in again, this time aiming for the little kistune, who was closest, the girl yells, "Sit!" as loudly as she can and the blur, for a moment stops. Inuyasha growls, and tries to stand up, a rosary holding him to the ground. "Sit! Sit! Sit!" the girl yells again, fright written all over her face, the rosary having no effect on my brother's person. "Sit!" she yells once more, tears in her eyes ready to fall. "sit…" she whispers, barely audible. Inuyasha rises from his little dent in the ground, eyes glowing red. He reaches up for the rosary and once again "sit" is heard as the girl crumbles to the ground. Inuyasha once again is lying on the ground, but this time the girl just stares as he grabs the rosary and pulls it apart, beads and magic scattering to the ground. The girl grimaces.

"Hiraikotsu!" yells the woman, throwing the boomerang at the hanyou. Inuyasha catches it and with lightning speed throws it back. Unable to dodge the taijiya is hit in the stomach, doubling up. She crawls to her pet, gasping for breath, reaches out and grabs the tails, pressing them close to her body.

"Sango!" The monk yells with a helpless look on his face. "I'm sorry Kagome, but-" he plants his staff into the soft ground. "Wind Tunnel!" he yells, directing the sucking vortex towards my brother. Inuyasha rushes toward the monk, ignoring the sucking wind and using his speed propels himself towards the monk.

"Foxfire" is heard as the little kitsune joins in the battle. He scampers over to the girl, who was sitting, a dead look in her eyes. She was determined to ignore her friend's bodies, lying on the ground.

"Inuyasha brushes away the little fox flames and darts towards the monk once more. The monk replaces his own rosaries over the hole in his hand and picks up his staff. He manages to parry a few hits but is inevitably overcome by the demon in front of him. His last swing misses and a hand plunges into his chest. Eyes wide open, he sputters out an apology to the girl sitting in the middle of all the bloodshed and to the one already dead. His heart is ripped out a moment later, and put back into its owner's hands. The lifeless houshi crumbles.

My brother turns once more to face the girl. The kitsune was close to fainting from all the violence that had occurred in front of it. "How could you Inuyasha?" it whimpered, attempted a battle stance it was never taught.

"Stop Shippo! Run away, now!" sobs a broken girl. "Please, go! I can't see you die, my kit. I'll be fine, don't worry about me." She reaches out to embrace the little one. But a blur snatches him out of her hands. Her eyes are pleading to the monster in front of her, not seeing the hands ripping the little kit's stomach, not seeing and not wanting to see.

The kitsune falls to the floor with its own not seeing eyes. My brother grins eerily and licks the blood off his fingers, cracks his knuckles and looks at the girl. She stands up, slowly, watching every twitch and every movement. Inuyasha paces around her, slowly and then faster until she would have probably not been able to see him, with her slow human eyes. Suddenly, he lunges at her from behind, a most cowardly and dishonorable move. She senses this out of instinct and erects a small barrier which causes him to stumble through his attack and miss her. He once again begins pacing, but this time does not speed up. He stares at her, and once in a position facing her, moves in again. He runs, aiming for her neck at such a speed, her reaction was not good enough and his attack hit her almost full in the stomach.

The girl is sent flying toward a tree, and lands not so softly on a root. She is in the position that I found her. I look towards my brother and with momentary shock notice he is no longer there.

I look at the Miko, raising an eyebrow. Suddenly, golden spheres appear again and the scene blurs out of existence. I find myself in her room, the Miko already sitting on her futon. The sword remained in my grasp, but in its untransformed state. She looks at it from her spot on her bed.

"I almost forgot, here." She waves toward the weapon and a blue lights surrounds it, creating a scabbard. I tuck the sword into its place near its sister, Tenseiga and its enemy, Toukijin.

I take a deep breath, all my questions arising. The first one being,

"What was that, woman?"

Vocabulary:

Ai- Love

Kai- Mystery

Jakuten- Weakness

Kyoujaku- Strength

Giman- Deceit

Torasuto- Trust

Shisei-Devotion

Inbi- Obscentiy

Toki no Fairu –Files of time

Aku- open

Kirai- hate

I think that's all of them, the rest you guys should already know….

OMG! I'm finally done, extra long chappie for you guys, that waited an entire year

Whoopee, I'm so glad to be back

Firsty, answers to all of your reviews

Speakofthedevilsheshallappear- Well, the rest isn't going to come on any time too soon, sorry, all my weekends are full in February, but I'll try to finish it soon

Queenanneus-Thanks for liking my POV thingies, I wanted to explore Sesshy's character a lil', so, yeah

GoodDaySesshoumaru- I'm glad you likey it a lot. Makes me happy.

Rem9- hitting anyone with frying pans is never cheating, its taking advantage of a situation XD.

Tomoyo-chan- Snow White eh… heheheh, I dunno about that, but those are some pretty description words, you're flattering me…

Kaguya's Chaos- I know, but Kagome suffers all the time… she's used to it by now, ne?

Silver Miko- You know, this will have fluff and all, but its just the beginning, coughing up blood isn't very romantic, but without it there's no story…

Kayrin- Wow, I miss you, I hope you'll read my new chappie, sry for being off so long…gotta catch up again.

In regards to my first fic, I'm currently trying to reread it, and all my criticism of all my writing boiled over to the conclusion that it is :crap. So, I think I wil lrewrite the entire thing, keeping the plot, but changing it to make it more realistic (erase all oocness… etc..)

Please be patient with me… o.0;

I think that's it… thanks for reviewing you guys. Any new people, please r/r, I'd really appreciate it if you could give me any advice at all.

Talk to you later, gotta get this uploaded quick

Spoken

Ja Ne